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Owner of PageF30.com.
Translator of Demian by Hermann Hesse into English - an interlinear translation for German students and those who want to see the original text.
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/mithradates
Fluent in Japanese, Korean. Proficient in Mandarin, Turkish, German, French, Portuguese, others.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

I was looking through some books on Eric.ed.gov today and found a few in Romanian, including this one (pdf) for volunteers in Moldova in 1998 that is particularly short. At just over 20 pages, it took just a bit over an hour to type up, except for the alphabet chart and pronunciation guide as that can be found anywhere. The English part (and maybe the Romanian, but I can't tell) is full of typos and mistakes ("good buy", "by cause", "I am share" for "I am sure") and so I've changed quite a bit there.

There are at least four other Romanian textbooks there that are much greater in size (up to 120+ pages), so be sure to do a direct search if you want more.

More after the jump:

PC Volunteers' First Steps in Romanian

CHIŞINĂU - 1998

The Romanian Language

Romanian is relatively easy to read and to write since it is a phonetic language in which all letters are pronounced. With the exception of the two typical sounds ă and î, all the other sounds are easy to identify with English approximations. Originating in the Latin language brought by Roman colonists in 106 - 275 AD, Romanian has much in common with French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Through the centuries the Romanian territories have been crossed by migrating tribes of Germanic, Slav and Magyar origin, each contributing words of their own vocabulary to the Romanian language. Some words of Greek and Turkish origin are a reminder of the political dominance exercised by these two powers.

(Skip alphabet, phonetics)

Romanian and English have a lot of common words that are similar when written, having the same meaning. Here you have a list of those.

My name is Steve Miller. Please don't take me for another person, I am not Ştefan cel Mare, the Moldavian national hero, I am the director of the Moldova Peace Corps.
I congratulate you for being (because you are) invited to Moldova.

My name is Janet, Smith not Jackson. I am a Peace Corps volunteer. People say that I speak Romanian well but I don't agree.
How did I learn Romanian so well and so fast?
Because we have such excellent and interesting teachers.
And how is Moldova?
Life in Moldova is not easy, but most of the people are friendly and Moldova is beautiful.

My name is Mark Chernoff.
I am a Peace Corps volunteer. My specialty is developing (the) business. I am from the state of Arizona, but now I'm living in the city of Cimişlia, in the south of Moldova.
I work at the Business Center, developing (the) business and privatisation there. I like Moldova and Cimişlia very much. I like Moldovian wine very much.

I am Jennifer Arndt and I am a volunteer in the 3rd group (in) Moldova. Now I am working in the village of Lapuşna as a teacher of English.
I like moldova very much, but now it is very cold. We will meet in the summer, because I will work with PST TEFL.
And I wish you a lot of success and good luck.

My name is Lolly. I am in Texas. I came to Moldova in '95.
I live in a small village - Ermoclia. I work at the school. I have the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th years (grades). In Ermoclia I live with a family. In Moldova I like the autumn because it is beautiful and we make wine. Moldova has very interesting customs.
I wish you good luck at the PST and during the 2 years.
Good bye!

Maybe now you can't understand everything I say, but soon we'll talk easily in Romanian.
I am Alex. I came with Moldova 5 group and I am an English teacher in Teleneşti district, where people are hard-working and friendly, and home-made wine is very tasty.
I want to say that we are anxiously waiting for you. I am sure that you experience here in Moldova will be memorable and interesting. If you don't understand everything now, don't worry, because here in Moldova the staff which works with the Peace Corps and is interested in teaching Romanian is the best.
Finally, I wish you a nice trip and we are waiting for you.
Good bye!

I am Pamela Crisman from Leova. I am very happy that I came to Moldova. I am a teacher of English and during this period I made some good friends.
Pupels from Leova are very interesting.
We look forward to the arrival of the volunteers from Moldova 6.
Have a nice trip. See you soon.
We'll see each other in the summer.

My name is Kari Gloppen and I am from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Here in Moldova I work in the Health Education Program.
Moldova is beautiful - good wine, good people and good time(s)!
We are very happy that you will come.
We await you!

Of course, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer and in particular I'm an NGO Consultant, and I work with the Youth Foundation "The XXI Century" or more simply "Information for Youth" - INFOTIN. INFOTIN tries to collaborate with other NGOs from Moldova.
And I think that it is important to work with my Moldovan colleagues, and for me this is a good experience, and more than that, it is important to know that you will learn from your Moldovan coleagues and they will learn from you.

I am Galina, Romanian teacher at the Peace Corps. Besides this, I work as a French teacher in a school in the city of Chişinău. I am married. I have two children who study English at school.
I like to work with Volunteers from the USA, because they are receptive and study Romanian with a lot of pleasure.
See you in the summer!